Quebecor note sale to fund Osprey buy

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TORONTO -- Quebec media giant Quebecor Media on Monday said it is planning a $750 million offering of senior notes to fund its purchase of domestic newspaper publisher Osprey Media Income Fund.

Montreal-based Quebecor, which owns and operates conventional and cable TV channels in Quebec as well as a string of newspapers, said the senior notes will be issued in two tranches maturing in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

The offering follows Quebecor's sweetening of its bid for the Toronto-based newspaper publisher to CAN$414.4 million ($391 million), or CAN$8.45 ($7.95) per-unit, to fend off a competing bid from Black Press Ltd.

Osprey Media runs about 20 daily newspapers in Ontario and another 30 other publications that Quebecor intends to merge with its Sun newspaper chain and Quebec titles, including Les Journal de Montreal.

Quebecor said that, should its Osprey Media bid be withdrawn or terminated, it will use the proceeds of the senior notes offering for general corporate purposes.